PURE versus purified milk 257 



a fallacious basis. Long before the time of Pasteur, 

 the mothers of a great part of Europe heated the milk 

 given to their babies, generally boiling it. To-day in 

 the tenement homes of all our cities milk is most gen- 

 erally boiled before being given to babies, almost in- 

 variably so in summer. The researches of such men 

 as Drs. Park and Holt " show this, and Dr. Darling- 

 ton, the Health Commissioner of New York City, has 

 had the matter carefully investigated with the result, 

 he informs me, that he finds boiling to be the general 

 rule. 



I am not unmindful of the fact that this argument 

 may be a two-edged sword, that it may react against 

 pasteurization, at least so far as the establishment of 

 infants' milk depots is concerned. It may be urged 

 with reason and sincerity : " If practically all the milk 

 is boiled before it is given to the babies, what need is 

 there for pasteurizing it — why not leave that to the 

 mothers?" It must not be forgotten, however, that 

 the actual pasteurization is only one of the services 

 performed by the depots. There is the careful, scientific 

 modification of the milk, the supervision of the babies, 

 the constant advice to mothers, and, hardly less im- 

 portant, the invariable practice of securing the highest 

 standard of excellence in the production of the milk 

 itself. Then, also, it is important to bear in mind that 

 the careful, scientific pasteurization of the milk is 

 very different from the haphazard and frequently 



